Thursday, December 29, 2005

Total Confusion

I changed the name of my personal blog for this one posting just to emphasize and draw attention to this subject. I cannot imagine what the authors of this new Medicare Drug Program were thinking when they came up with the guidelines and parameters for getting the most out of this new program. My father-in-law lives with us and we have been trying to figure out how to get the most out of it since it was first introduced.

There is mention of spreadsheets online that you can use to compare the costs of your total drug program. How many people in this age group are really able or have the desire to sit down at a computer and figure out these details?

There are senior centers hosting workshops trying to clear up some of the questions but a lot of the people in this age group are unable to get to these sessions due to health or other reasons. Even if they attended, I'm not sure if they attended they could figure it out.

Some of these seniors are being automatically switched to this program from other benefit programs. Are all of these switches to their benefit or not? Some switches may be to someone elses benefit.

It is my opinion that this program should have been more simple to negotiate and figure out. Most of these seniors have worked all of their lives so why should they be faced with something this difficult at their age.
From what I understand, most of filled with fear and uncertainty that they may loose some of the benefits that thy now have or will be paying more for what they need to exist.

Maybe I am missing something somewhere or I am simple minded and the program is not that difficult to use. Just my thoughts. Any comments are welcome.

CO

1 comment:

NB-C said...

I couln't agree more...my grandmother hasn't mentioned this to me, but I'm sure she's just as frustrated. I thought the whole purpose of our democracy was to take care of those who can't take care of themselves...I guess I was wrong.